Bakiyev’s entire cabinet has apparently resigned due to the political standoff in Parliament:
Prime Minister Felix Kulov, who tendered the resignation, said it should allow parliamentary elections due in 2010 to be held sooner.
Mr Kulov said he had tendered his resignation to speed up the transition to a new parliament and government.
“By our move we are trying to speed up new parliamentary elections. This is a way out of a crisis and a way to intensify the democratic process,” he told reporters.
Thousands of opposition supporters set up tents in the main square and refused to leave until President Bakiyev resigned or brought in constitutional reform.
They accused the president of reneging on his promise to introduce reforms when he overthrew Askar Akayev in the so-called Tulip Revolution in 2005.
The new constitution allows parliament, not the president, to form a government.
However, under November’s deal, it was agreed that the current government should remain in place until 2010.
But if the government resigns and parliament cannot approve its successor, new elections have to be called.
Interesting. We’ll see how this pans out.
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Joshua Foust – author of 1801 posts on Registan.net.
Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust
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The ‘end game’ became a little clearer today. I met with actors of Soyuz D. Sil and Arnamys in the morning and afternoon — both party actors (sorry to be vague — comments were not for attribution) suggested the government resignation has meaning far beyond the question of the hastening new parliamentary elections.
24.kg this evening posted that (1) parliament has voted to review the constitution and the November ammendments and (2) MP Sariev has proposed 7 specific changes which would return to Bakiev many of the powers he surrendered in November.
I hope Turkmenbashi’s passing does not provide international cover for Bakiev’s backsliding to authoritarianism.
–Eric M.